With our usual luck (or lack of planning) we came to Unstad, the surf mecka of Lofoten, just as the waves died out. Since we wanted to revisit this amazing little valley despite the lack of surf, we booked two nights at Unstad Artic surfs campsite. We’re not gonna tell you how long it was since we had a shower – but lets say it was worth the 600 nok (60€) to have hot water, a sauna, wifi and a lounge to hang out in as a change to the vanlife (sorry Doris!).
But sitting still isn’t something we’re very good at, so when we heard that you could join a guide to go on a few hour of Stand up paddleboarding – we joined in!

Neither one of us had tried this before and to be honest – Carl was a bit sceptic; ”stand on a board without waves, why?”. But as we got up on our boards and out in the fjord, there was nothing more to be sceptic about. The scenery is not from this world!

We paddled out to a small island together with a few other people, the two guides from Chamonix and Bali and a photographer called Kian from Australia. Before we left we wrote down our emails so Kian had somewhere to send the pictures. And as we where starting (or struggeling) to get the hang on the tecnique, Kian told us that he recognised the ”swewanderlust” adress that I had left.

Apparently he was in Portugal the same time as we where last autumn. When we where driving from the south up, he was comming down south from Lissboa in his Mercedes Sprinervan. He told us that he had seen our pics on Instagram and checked out some of the spots that we camped out on.

How crazy isn’t it that the guy from Australia sees our pictures when we’re all in Portugal – and that our paths cross seven months later in Unstad, Norway!?

Even though there wasn’t any waves, we had an awesome day spent with great people in this environment that is like taken out of a movie. The guides from UAS was experienced, friendly and had a good hand with us beginners ?

But these epic pictures that Kian took might be the best thing with the whole day! Such a awesome memory and a privilege to have our pictures taken by such a pro – check him out here:@bourkesteer ?

When we rolled out of Stockholm and began this trip, we decided to set some personal goals for ourselves. Since I was working alot this autumn when we where out, meaning I spent hour after hour in bed in the back of the van with the computer on my belly – My simple goal was to spend more time outside of Doris. Carl on the other hand felt that he didn’t really socialise as much as he could have and therefore set as a goal to talk with more people on the road.

Neither of these two are hard goals to reach if only you put your mind to it. And we have! These past two weeks has been both active and social to a whole new level. And the other day we got some help when Lina and Jakob from @Thegreatnortherntrails commented on one of our pictures, that they too where in Lofoten!

We met up on a beach near Fredvang for a coffee and plenty of vantalk!

Lina and Jakob have a VW Transporter that they use as a camper in the summers and as a ”regular” car in the winters.

It isn’t a big car but they have pretty much all they need with a bed, a drawer for food and stuff in the back, clothes under the bed and a gas stove for cooking.

And of course – stickers!

Thank you so much Lina and Jakob for showing us your van and taking time to hang out for a bit. Hope to see you soon again! If you want to see more of this blue beauty, trailrunning and Lina and Jakobs continued trip around Norway and Sweden – go follow @Thegreatnortherntrails!

I wrote this text a few days back, when I was still a bit shaken by something that had happened a few hours earlier. Now we’re safe and happy in Unstad, Lofoten – but I still feel like sharing this with you all. As a reminder to keep things cool on the roads.

If you search for a route up to Lofoten on Google maps, it will most surtenly tell you to drive trough Sweden. That’s what we did last time we where there, two years ago. But as you already know, we wanted to see more of Norway this time and ignored the suggested route even though our one would take hours longer. But we’re not in a hurry.

Even though we’re not in a hurry, we where eager to get to Lofoten yesterday, after our stops and detours along the way. It’s easy to get caught in some kind of race where all that matters is miles and hours on the road.

But then something didn’t happen, that woke us up. It didn’t happen, but it was close. Maybe not as close as it felt.

We slept some kilometers outside of Levanger and had a look at the old ruin of a monastery before we got out on the E6 going north. I don’t know how highways look where you come from, but me and Carl are used to two lanes in each direction and a central barrier. The roads we drove on yesterday looked more like small country roads back home. But the traffic is still very busy with people on their way to and from their cottages, tourist busses and heavy trucks carrying I don’t know what up and down the seemingly narrow roads.

One lane in each direction and nothing but yellow marks on the ground to separate the traffic going south and north.

And then that car. Some kind of SUV, where the driver decided that he or she was in such a hurry that it was worth to do an overtaking even though it was impossible to see far enough on the road ahead. On the road where we showed up.

I don’t know, it might not have been so close. But the moments that went by, when I went from annoyed over such a stupid behaviour, to not seeing how that SUV would be able to get back between the cars in the right lane. To tense all my muscles, preparing for the crash. Feeling how Calle hit the breaks. And then, the SUV getting back to it’s own side of the road, way to late.

Those moments stuck and made us forever remember; that we’re never in such a hurry.

After this we drove off the E6 and took a smaller road with less traffic and lower speed limits. We took our time to look at the scenery and stop to take pictures. We arrived to Lofoten a few days later, but with peace in mind.

So what have we been up to in between hiking in Fulufjället and arriving to Lofoten? What do you do when you are driving along the winding roads in one of the most beautiful countries there is? Without wifi, batteries on your computer and with no deadlines in the world?

Haha yes that’s right! When you’ve passed by endless of beautiful waterfalls, you realize that you’ve just driven by the solution to your empty water tank problem.

Even though it was a bit tricky, it felt amazing to be able to get fresh water right out of nature itself! It is easy to take water for granted when you come from a country like Sweden. But vanlife has made us more aware of the amount of water we use and how completly vulnerable you are if you run out of it. Even if we’ve only done it for a few hours…

Even though we told you that we where going to gun it up to Lofoten, things happened that made us change our mind and take a new route. We tell you all about that tomorrow ❤

As you know we’ve been on the roads for a few days and we haven’t had either batteries or wifi. But yesterday we finally reached Bodø where you can take a ferry to Lofoten. We parked some kilometers away on this magical spot and spent the night.

Now we’re on the ferry and Lofoten is getting closer every minute. This takes just over 3 hours and cost us around 100 euro for the two of us plus Doris. Totally worth it since it would take over 10 hours if we drove all the way!

We promise to give you a better update of what we’ve been doing this past week, as soon as we get a wifi connection ❤

I can’t imagine any better way to wake up on your 30th birthday, than curled up in a sleepingbag – from the sound of your husbands(whaaat!??) singing. And with a view like this outside your tent!

We’ve been hiking on Swedish Fulufjället for the last tree days and it has been just amazing. The scenery is so cool, the water in the creeks is so tasty and the people! …We met people from all over Europe and something seems to happen when folks get into the nature – everyone was just so happy and friendly.

When we got back down from the hike, also happy but tired and with sore feets – we started to look for somewhere to sleep for the night. Just by coinsident we stumbled upon this dreamy spot just by a small tarn.

We had a vegan barbeque and enjoyed the scenery in the last rays of the sun. I didn’t think this day could get any better – but then we got an text from our wedding photographer Matilda Söderdtröm that had sent us a slideshow with pictures from the wedding! We where crying and laughing and hugging and kissing while we looked at it. Such an amazing day!

Thanks for all the love you’ve been sending me today – I love beeing 30 years old! ❤

It’s such a great feeling when your head starts to slow down and you find yourself not thinking about anything else than the nature around you. We are still headed to Lofoten, but we took a little detour to Fulufjället to hike around the national park for a few days. This is where you find Swedens highest waterfall ”Njupeskär”. It might not compare with many of the waterfalls around the world, ”only” 93 meters – but it sure is impressive when you stand below it!
If you don’t hear from us in a few days, it’s because we’re out hiking – but we promise to show you photos when we come back!

I don’t know where the fascination about water comes from, but me and Carl aren’t the only ones who have hiked for miles to see tons of water shooting down mountainsides around the world. This time it was an easy hike though, to get to Brattfallet in Värmland, Sweden. But even though the waterfall was beautiful, it was this part of Halgån, further down, that made the biggest impression on us.

These logs is a reminder of the time when Hagån was used to carry timber through this landscape, down to Klarälven. A dangerous task for those who had it and something that was done all the way until the late 70s.

Even though it was a short hike, we managed to be surprised by the rain (as you might have seen on our insta story: @swewanderlust ) and enjoy our lunch in the sun – confusing weather! ???

In february last year, we where out on a perticulary nervous hike in a nature reserve outside of Stockholm. Or Carl didn’t know how nervous it was, but I was almost peeing my pants. The reason? I had a bottle of champagne in my backpack and a plan to ask Calle to marry me!

We’d been talking about it forever and I thought now was the time – but I could never have imagined how nervous I would be! We where out for several hours and I think I stopped like 3 or 4 times, with some silly excuse, and started reaching down my backpack. But I totally froze every time!

I thought that Carl would have figured something out since I was acting so wierd, but afterwards he told me he was clueless ? Anyway, after hours of walking we where almost back at the car and it was now or never – so suddenly I just hauled out the Champagne, tears pouring down my cheeks and I asked him ”will you marry me!?”, with the bottle pressed to his chest.

The look on his face was priceless! First total surprise and not getting anything – then the look when he really heard what I had asked – the biggest smile, mixed with tears and laughter. And of course the ”Yes!”

Ten years after we first laid eyes on each other, we got married on the 8th of July ?

Hi there! We're a Swedish couple that love to travel and hate to get bored. Exploring the world in our Mercedes Sprinter van "Doris", who's taken us from the arctic circle in the north, to Portugal and the most south western part of Europe.